To splice optical fibers, either individual or arranged in a cable, it is necessary that the two fiber trunks to be joined together be perfectly aligned, so that the junction may present an attenuation as low as possible; this attenuation is generally due to imperfect parallelism and imperfect alignment of trunk axes, and to a discontinuity of refractive index caused by the medium interposed between their ends.
To solve these problems, conventional splicing devices have downwardly converging guide channels, such as V-grooves or the peripheries of small juxtaposed cylinders, on which fiber trunks may be laid and then held in place by suitable adhesives. Nevertheless, these devices are complex and cannot be easily manufactured, assembled, and manually adjusted for splicing; they furthermore require complex and expensive equipment.
Moreover, such devices have generally sizes depending on the fiber diameter, or do not provide means for holding the trunks in correct position till the adhesive has hardened; some do not allow easy access to the point at which the ends are in contact and where a bonding and/or refractive-index-matching fluid is to be deposited.